How to Make a Beaded Pencil Topper

Learn how to make a beaded pencil topper that will help you stay ahead of the rest of the class.

What You'll Need:

Paper egg carton

12 inches copper craft wire, 20 gauge

4 inches white craft wire, 20 gauge

Chenille stems: white, silver

Paper clay

Acrylic paint

Wiggle eyes

Small pink sparkle pom

Scissors

Low-temperature glue gun and glue sticks

Pencil

Paintbrush

Craft glue

Black permanent marker

Colored plastic tape

Note: Adult help needed

For each pencil topper, cut two egg cups from the egg carton. Trim the edges neatly.

Bend the end of the copper wire into a loop. Ask a grown-up to help you glue the loop just inside the edge of one cup using a glue gun and glue sticks. (This is where the "neck" of the animal will be.) Let dry.

For rabbit: Cut a white chenille stem in half, and bend each half to form an ear. Hot-glue the ears onto the top edge of the cup, opposite the wire loop. For dog: Cut the bottom off another egg cup. Hot-glue this piece to the bottom of the cup with the wire in it. For cat: Proceed to step 4.

For all animals, hot-glue the open ends of the two cups together to make an egg shape. Let dry. Coil the wire around a pencil to hold the head still.

Mold paper clay to add ears and noses. Follow the package directions to dry the clay. Glue the ears and noses in place; let dry.

Paint the head and paper clay ears. Let dry. Glue wiggle eyes in place using craft glue. Cut white wire or chenille stems for whiskers; glue in place. Draw a mouth and other facial details with black marker. (For the rabbit, cut a silver chenille stem into six pieces, and glue into place to make whiskers. Glue a pink pom on top for a nose.)

Make sure the wire is wrapped tightly around the pencil, and cover the bottom of the wire with plastic tape.